3 month old going ages without a feed

[Splandy]

Baby only just turned three months and has just gone seven hours between feeds. He's only fed because I've woken him and made him feed. Is this normal? He is about 14lbs and seems fine when he's awake, growth dropped slightly since birth, but he was a big baby so I expected him to become more normal sized! His feeds today were one at around midnight, then one at about half 7 in the morning, one at half 1 this afternoon and just started another at 8, which I instigated. Would he be screaming the place down if he wasn't getting enough?? It's quite likely that he'll now only have had 4 feeds within 24 hours unless I squeeze another in, and even then it's only 5. Does anybody else's baby do this??

I don't think I'd let the baby go that long during the day. Surely he can't be asleep all that time in the day?

I'd be really glad if the baby slept through the night but I'd aim to feed 3-4 hourly during the day.

Is he bf or ff, if he's formula fed you can work out roughly how much he needs based on his weight.

He's breastfed. I did wake him every three hours for the first week or so, as told to by the midwife, since he had a tongue tie and didn't feed properly for the first few days. The midwife said she was very pleased with his weight gain after that and to just go to feeding on demand. He doesn't always do this, but it's not that rare either. He does seem to sleep a lot in the day. I read things about how much tummy time to they're supposed to be having now and wonder how on earth that will get fitted into his awake time as well as all of his normal care. He is on the 75th centile and always seems fine and happy. But it just doesn't seem enough...

It doesn't sound like a lot but he may be a very efficient feeder and very content.

I know they do have days when they sleep a lot. It always seems awful to wake a sleeping baby doesn't it?

Is he having plenty of wet and dirty nappies?

Perhaps just keep monitoring his weight and nappies. He might make up for it during a growth spurt.

Yes I know what you mean about fitting it all in, and my ds hated going on his tummy at that age.

Would you call a helpline and/or speak to your Hv about this? The concern would be that four feeds in 24 hours are not enough to keep up a supply. Mothers can do this with older babies, but at three months this infrequency will reduce supply.

Do you think it'd be enough to reduce supply even if it wasn't every day? He's also had plenty of times where he's clustered on me for eight hours solid! It was only 4 feeds in 24 hours in the end. Bit worrying :s I'd say it's generally more like 6 most days.

Sounds fine to me - I think he would let you know if he was hungry. The fact that he's gaining weight and seems happy are good signs!

No, the odd day with only 4 feeds would be fine with regard to supply.

Did they do anything about the tongue tie? I agree with ticktock is worth exploring with a trained breastfeeding council if your at all concerned.

If he has other times when he feeds more often then it could be fine. But it's hard to go over everything on an Internet forum. For peace of mind a chat to someone would be a good idea.

Yes, his Tongue tie was sorted and his feeding was fine after that. I did vaguely mention it to a breastfeeding support worker the other day who told me to try not to let him go longer than seven hours. At the time I was talking about him occasionally going nine hours in the night, so thought it unlikely that I'd intentionally wake myself up to feed him after 7 hours. Just wondered whether other babies also do this. I go to college one day a week and pump a little after some feeds to build up enough for about toe feed while I'm gone. Health visitor didn't believe me when I said he'd on,y want one feed during that time, said it would definitely be 2. Had college today and he didn't ask for a feed until I got home. Was about 8 hours in the end. I keep worrying that he's starving!

About toe was supposed to be a bottle...